Contents

Notes About This Guide

Specific directions through dungeons may not be given due to the generation nature of Diablo III. Some dungeons have random generation methods and the path through them may not be the same every play through. Instructions will be given where it is possible.

Some monsters cannot be specified due to the generation nature of Diablo III. You may encounter uniques and champion specific monsters, yellow and blue named respectively, that would have been unable to be determined beforehand. These mobs are typically tougher to fight but offer better rewards.

This walkthrough is intended to give a quest overview and help with each one where it can. This walkthrough will not provide information in regards to what vendors sell specifically, as this cannot be known at any given time.

The definition of 'boss' on this walkthrough is defined by a named mob that is the primary target of a questline that is not found more than once. They will also be more difficult to kill.

CAUTION: The following section contains content that may contain plot spoilers.

Character Creation

As you start up your game and log-in, for the first time, you will be greeted with the character creation process automatically. You can pick from one of the five classes from Diablo III as well as their gender.

Holy warrior who attacks faster than the eye can follow, disabling enemies with precision blows. Specializes to hand-to-hand based weapons but can wield one-handed weapons, as well as two-handed polearms, staves, and daibo. The monk relies on his/her spirit and will be easily slain without it.

Manipulator of the forces of life and death, this caster wields the power of nature in unsettling ways. Can wield swords, staves, axes and other one-handed weaponry however the Witch Doctor typically favors a ceremonial knife and an off hand "mojo" or shield. The witch doctor relies on his/her mana and will be easily slain without it.

Master of the temporal and elemental energies powering creation itself. Wields wands typically with an off hand (either a source or shield) but can also use daggers, swords, axes and 2H swords, 2H axes and staves. The wizard relies on his/her arcane power and will be easily slain without it.

Tactical survivability: Wizards are very poor melee fighters. Their best chance of survival is ranged: Find a spot in landscape or a dungeon where you can move around an object. Not a small object but a larger that is half your playscreen. Move constantly around this object, drop self sustaining damage like Blizzard or Venom Hydra in your wake. The mob groups, adds or elites will follow in your wake - take damage while you keep out of reach - and eventually die.

Be aware though that many uses Walling effect or pull you close. Move again as fast as possible out of reach and continue dropping self sustaining damage.

Act I

The Fallen Star

As soon as you enter the game you will go through a brief tutorial of how to move and attack enemies to begin with and how to communicate with Non-player characters (NPCs) in the game world. As you make your way down the path, attacking the Risen you will eventually run into the gate to New Tristram.

In front you will meet Captain Rumford after assisting him in defeating some Risen. Once you speak to him you will finally get your first quest, The Fallen Star. Your first objective would be to assist him in another onslaught by the Risen and Crawling Torso. Afterwards you will head into town and talk to Leah inside of the Slaughtered Calf Inn. She will tell you to go back to Captain Rumford to find a way to prevent the Risen from destroying the city. Head back to the main gate, and talk with Rumford. Shortly after talking with him, you will be attacked by several Risen and a Wretched Mother. Get rid of them, and head north to the Old Ruins.

There will be a single Wretched Queen in this area to the north, as well as three Wretched Mothers. Killing the latter three enemies is optional, but highly recommended as it will net you a nice reward. Search the area for the mothers, and keep following the path. As soon as you enter the Old Ruins you'll encounter the Wretched Queen. Quickly dispatch of her (she should be your main target), and defeat the remaining enemies. A waypoint should now have opened. Take it back to New Tristram. When you reach the town again, talk with Captain Rumford.

The Legacy of Cain

He will ask you to talk some sense into Leah and earn the quest The Legacy of Cain. Talk with her, and she'll tell you to head back to the Old Ruins to find the keys to the gate. Use the waypoint to head back, and follow the path north to Adria's Hut. Head inside the cellar. Here you'll encounter Captain Daltyn, the former Captain of the Guard. He uses an ice attack which freezes your character. When he uses this attack, be sure to move out of the range of the ice bombs. Keep your distance and use hit-and-run tactics and you should be fine. After killing him, talk with Leah.

Head back outside where a group of Risen will attack you, finish them and then follow the path outside the hut to the east. Follow that path north-west until you reach the Cathedral. Head inside and enter level one of the Cathedral. Explore the first level until you find the stairs to Leoric's Passage.

Once you enter Leoric's Passage, you will enter a cutscene where you will see Deckard Cain running through a doorway and the Skeleton King attacking him by raising some skeletons to fight Cain. You will need to go down and defeat the Royal Henchmen and the Royal Executioner before being able to continue the quest. Once you talk to him, Cain will walk toward the bookshelf and open a secret passageway, enter it and follow Cain through the waypoint back into New Tristram. Once back, talk with Leah.

The Shattered Crown

After you speak to Leah, you will need to speak to Cain. He will tell you to find the town's blacksmith, who might know more about the Skeleton King's Crown. Head out through the west and talk with the blacksmith Haedrig Eamon. He'll ask you to follow him into the cellar. Do so, and kill the Ravenous Dead inside. After killing Haedrig's wife, Mira Eamon who turned undead, talk with him and he'll tell you where to find the crown and makes mention of his apprentice that never came back. Head back outside and to the gate to the north, upon trying to cross you will be attacked, dispatch of them. Follow the path until you hit the cemetery. Once at the cemetery you will need to explore each of the three open crypts to find which one holds the crown. If the tomb has a second level, you're in the right one. If you find a pillar that teleports you back to the Cemetery or find an event quest in one, it is an incorrect place. As soon as you reach a large door, an enemy will bang on it. Manglemaw, probably the first real Unburied you'll face, will come out. He is a relatively easy boss. Finish him, and enter the Chancellor's Tomb. Follow the path, and as soon as you reach the crown activate it. You will now fight the Chancellor Eamon. He can use magic from long range, slowing your movement speed toward him. He also has the ability to pick you up and toss you back. Once he is finished, use your newly found Town Portal ability, default T, to go back to town and talk to Haedrig. He will be surprised that you found it and make note that it needs to be repaired, after a moment he will give it back to you almost as new. From henceforth you may use the blacksmithing equipment to craft new weapons and armor.

Reign of the Black King

Once you speak to Deckard Cain about you having the crown and where to find the Skeleton King, you will be told to head back to the Cathedral and head into Leoric's Passage. Simply take the waypoint back to the Cathedral and enter Leoric's Passage where you came out from before. Go to the second level of the Cathedral by using the large door nearby the bookshelf entrance. Once you descend to the second level you need to find the stairs down to the third. Upon reaching the third floor you will run into a circle of cultists holding a warrior prisoner, free him and he will be your assistant once you retrieve his armor. He is Kormac of the Templar Order, one of the three major Followers you will encounter in the game. Find the waypoint in the area near where you find his equipment, down one of the hallways near the larger room where you ran to get his equipment. After that follow the pathway to the end of the level, where you will fight Jondar, a former Templar who has joined the Dark Coven. He's a relatively simple boss to defeat. Once you've taken him down and gained Kormac officially as a follower, head down the stairs to the end and enter Cathedral Level 4.

Once you make your way down the stairs, you will be told to find The Royal Crypt. Explore this area to find the stairs leading down into it. Once in, you will need to follow the path toward Leoric's Sword and use it to find some history about the story. Continue onward to find four pillars and skeletons and the Skeleton King will make an announcement. Destroy the pillars quickly as they summon skeletons for as long as they are active. Once the pillars are destroyed and all the skeletons are dead, move onwards through the door. Once through the door you will have to go through some more skeletons and doors, once done you will cross a bridge like straightaway and to the left (north) you will find the door to the Skeleton King.

Once you entered you will hit a cutscene with the Skeleton King breaking the central bridge to his chamber and saying that you will never defeat him. Head toward the broken bridge and take a right (east) where you will run into a locked gate. Some skeletons will spawn and you will need to kill them to unlock the gate. Once done, run through the gate up to the throne of the Skeleton King and place the crown upon his head, after a moment or two he will be alive and fighting you. His melee attacks hurt quite a bit so be careful of those and will summon some skeletons to help him in defeating you.

Once the Skeleton King is dead, enter the Desolate Chamber that opens up where the throne chair is and follow the path downward to find the source of the Fallen Star. Talk to the stranger as instructed and you two will end up back in New Tristram by a nearby waypoint. A cutscene will ensue.

Sword of the Stranger

After speaking to Deckard Cain about the stranger and something strange with the stranger as he fell, you will be instructed to go to the Fields of Misery located north of the Cemetery, you may use the waypoint to head back there. Once the gate unlocks, and you get there you will be told to find the Khazra Den.

You may follow the path through this place but chances are you will not find it just nearby. There is also a waypoint in this area that can be found and activated. Once you found Khazra Den you are told to enter it and to find the glowing sword shard. So enter it and follow the pathway to some cultists and Urik the Seer doing some ritual on a blue spot, that is the Glowing Sword Shard that you must collect and can do so after killing the cultists. Maghda will show up to give you a speech about taking it and bring more cultists to stop you. Once you pick it up, teleport back to town and talk to Cain.

The Broken Blade

Talk to Leah to start this quest. You will be asked to go to the Drowned Temple to recover another piece of the sword. You do this by going through the Fields of Misery so head back there now. Follow the path to get to a Scoundrel that needs help saving his wife to be. You must help him in order to get through, you will face quite a few Brigands and their leader Nigel Cutthroat. Dispatch of them and the Scoundrel Lyndon may follow you from here on out as one of your Followers.

The Scoundrel will lead you to the temple where you need to talk to Alaric who mentions that the only way in is to get two keys from a nearby forest called Festering Woods. Follow Alaric to raise the bridge and enter the forest where you will be tasked in getting those keys. Head onwards through the path and explore to find the Warrior's Rest and Crypt of the Ancients. Both dungeons have a very simple and small layout and shouldn't need assistance, just do not rush through as both are packed with minions of hell.

Once you have both of the keys you can return to where Alaric is by the waypoint there to the Drowned Temple or run back. Place a key on each of the stone pillars and the path will open to get inside the temple. Once inside, explore the straight forward path where you will encounter Ezek the Prophet. Defeat him and he will rise Brother Moek, Brother Larel, and Brother Karel. Defeat these three as well.

Once those people are defeated, Alaric will show up and tell you your strength rivals their champions and permit you to enter their most sacred place. Enter and you will be verbally assaulted by Magdha. Once she is done talking cultists will appear. Defeat them and the sword piece is yours. Pick it up and head back to New Tristram.

The Doom in Wortham

Once back speak to the Stranger to continue the plot line and you will be heading toward the docks of New Tristram now to catch the ferry into Wortham. Head to the dock and speak to the Ferryman to go.

Wortham is in shambles, burning to the ground due to the cultists. Defeat your way toward the center of town and you will need to help the church and the town fight against some cultists in the town center. Doing so will have Magdha show up and talk about the piece. She will bring Urzel Mordreg to come and stop you along with some more cultists, focusing Urzel will remove the cultists once he dies. After his death, Dark Berserkers will appear for you to kill. Dispose of them and Leah will leave your party at this time, head over to the Priest and talk to him, he will lead you into the churches cellar to get the sword piece.

Upon getting to the altar where it was kept; Magdha will show up and tell you that she has the piece and your friends (Leah, Cain and the Stranger) captive, you will need to head back to New Tristram into Deckard Cain’s house where the cutscene will ensure about the situation.

After the cutscene, the stranger is captured by Magdha, Cain is dead, and Leah is in town still upset about her uncle's death.

Trailing the Coven

Speak to Leah about the situation and she will bring up the next quest, Trailing the Coven. You are told to enter the Caverns of Araneae above Wortham. Head back to Wortham by ferry, waypoint, or town portal and head outside the church and go north of there to get outside the town. Once outside, simply follow the arrow on your minimap to get to the Caverns.

Once inside you will need to look for the Chamber of Queen Araneae, who is the main boss of this part of the quest line. As you progress through this dungeon you may encounter large amounts of spiders and demons coming at you, making surviving a difficult task, recommendation of Area of Effect skills is ideal as this will help kill them quickly without wasting much time. Also the webs the spiders shoot will slow you down and can prove difficult to navigate around to fight them.

The long curved path as found in one instance of the game. Does not change shape from game to game.

Hug one of the edges when you get in and follow it around until you find the exit, as running around blindly can take some time. Some other means to find it is looking for a long curved bend that heads north, east, or south as this will lead into an area that should take you to the boss in one of the directions out from the opening area. Also, looking for the stone pillars and flooring that's in ruin can also lead to a quicker discovery but is not guaranteed, simply a trend that has been noticed.

Once you find the Chamber, you will need to run to the other side of it and meet a woman, Karyna, stuck in a spider web. She will have some dialog for you and mention about the Spider Queen coming already as she can hear her. You will need to kill Araneae to continue.

Araneae will on occasionally leave this area to hide and have her minions come out to fight you, typically this will happen 2 to 3 times before you are able to finally slay her. As soon as you're finished you will need to get some acid from the pool nearby Karyna and release her before she goes mad. She will want to get out of this place as soon as possible and the way into the Highlands Crossing will become open.

Once you're outside you will need to talk to her and find out that she stole a staff from the Khazra and they will most likely not let you pass on your way to Leoric's Manor. You will need to retrieve the staff and take it to them to see if they will let you peacefully pass.

As you start to cross the bridge into the main area of the Highlands, you will find a Shaman at the bridge who will run away from you, following them or killing them from a distance without them running does not matter. If you end up following him you will also have to deal with some warriors that pop out of the ground south of the bridge once you finished crossing.

Start exploring the Highlands Crossing for the cart that she left the staff on, you may typically find this to the very north of the area or almost directly east after crossing the bridge. You can look at your main map to see the notification of where the cart is once you are close enough to it, however the arrow on the minimap will not show and only the location will ping itself once it is also on the minimap view.

The cart after having been used to obtain the staff stolen by Karyna.

Once you find the staff and pick it up, some Khazra will spawn along with a named Khazra called Nalghban The Foul. You can run away from these Dark Moon Clan enemies or kill them, as you will be told to approach the Khazra barricade at this time. Follow the arrow on your minimap to get to it, or head back to the road and follow it to the barricade as well.

Upon going to the barricade, the Khazra will break it down and rush out at you to kill you, saying the staff is theirs even though you meant to return it to begin with. Kill them off and you will need to fight your way through their camp in order to get to the other side where you can get to Leoric's Manor. Be careful of the traps, Moon Clan Shaman, and Highland Walkers you may encounter, as they can be a handful as they fight in larger groups.

On the other side of the Khazra camp is the Northern Highlands. Simply follow the road to get to a building in ruins that may have been a stopping point for the manor. Continue up the road and fighting off cultists and khazra to finally get to Leoric's Hunting Grounds.

The path to finally get to Leoric's Manor is simple, follow the road just like before fighting off anything you may need to. You will finally arrive at a bridge with a gate on the other side, break it open with an attack and continue forward killing off any cultists that get too close. Once inside you are told to explore the manor. Simply head north following the tattered and ruined red carpet to a staircase.

As soon as you get near you will be attacked by many cultists and some hounds. Dispatch of them and continue up the left set of stairs as the right set is broken to progress through the manor. You will come to a set of doors labeled Manor Doors, open them and you will enter a room full of cultists with Maghda's spirit and after some speech the cultists will attack you all at once. Kill them off.

The wounded man just outside the doors leading to outside.

Once that is done, talk to the Wounded Man to obtain the next quest. You find out they took the Strange Man through this passage into the place below.

The Imprisoned Angel

Enter the Halls of Agony Level 1 as instructed by the objective, which is just down the stair case outside the doors by the wounded man. Fight your way through this semi-straightforward floor to the second floor, Level 2 of the Halls of Agony. You can tell if it is the right way by the large blades smacking the floor and hitting you if you're in the way. Avoid these as you progress toward the stairs.

Once on the second level you will need to head to the Highlands Passage. There is no easy way to tell if you're going the right way on this level, however you will be given an arrow once you're close enough to the stairs outside.

Once outside, head across the bridge to the north where you may visit a merchant to sell, repair, buy and then follow the stairs down to the east, fighting off demons and cultists as you go. You will find the way into The Cursed Hold.

Queen Asylla waiting for you to speak with her.

Upon entering you will need to talk to Queen Asylla who tells you of her servants' souls being kept here and tortured, forever lingering here. You will need to free her six servants by heading to the main area and going north and south of the central intersection bridge. You'll know you've found one when you see a restless spirit pacing a green area. You may find one or two along the way into this area.

Once all six servants are free, Asylla will direct you to find and kill The Warden, King Leoric's head jailer, who can be found at the central intersection bridge. He is a semi-difficult foe with his undead minions backing him up and his Jailer abilities, but shouldn't be too much of a threat. After you defeat him head west through the now open gateway and follow that path down into the Halls of Agony Level 3 to search for the Chamber of Suffering.

Once on Level 3 you will need to look for the exit into the Chamber of Suffering and you may be able to find this easier by noticing the many chains coming off the ceiling. However at this point you should also have the marker on your minimap pointing out the exit.

In the Chamber of Suffering, you will encounter the final boss of this act, The Butcher. The battle takes place in a large pit on a large segmented grate. During the battle, sections of the grate will glow with fire, and if you're standing in that section, you will take damage. The Butcher has several main special attacks. The first attack consists of sending his meat-hook out toward you much like the Barbarian's Ancient Spear. If it hits, you will get pulled toward him and stunned, and he will get a free attack on you. The second major attack has him firing some kind of fire/sonic blast your way, and if it hits you, you'll get knocked back. He also has a habit of charging you, which does heavy damage, but which stuns him if he misses and hits a wall, allowing you to get some damage in. If you're hurting during the fight, there are two healing wells on either side near the top of the chamber that can be used to heal. Avoid his attacks and the fire as best you can and keep hitting him until he dies.

Once he is dead you may leave through the North-East gate into the Cells of the Condemned. Follow the long staircase down into a cutscene where you will see the Stranger being tortured by cultists. Kill the cultists and then talk to the Stranger. The Stranger will take up the restored sword and undergo a transformation as his mind and body are restored and you will learn his true identity: the archangel Tyrael. Talk to him to finish off the quest.

Return to New Tristram

Head back to New Tristram. Once back, finish off the dialog with Tyrael and you may now talk to the Caravan Leader to head into the next Act! Congratulations!

Event Quests

Matriarch's Bones

This is an instance possibility in the Cemetery of the Forsaken in one of the three crypts. You are required to return the bones of a person long dead. By searching each of the three Funerary Urns you will summon Lord Dunhyld, and after the third time you will be able to finish the quest.

Jar of Souls

This is an instance possibility in the Cemetery of the Forsaken in one of the three crypts. You are required to survive for a given amount of time against a massive horde of skeletons and undead and then destroy the jar itself. The time duration to survive is a minute and a half.

Last Stand of the Ancients

Event Locations

Tinker's Hovel

Located in the Fields of Misery it contains a merchant that sells various goods.

Scavanger's Den

This dungeon contains various monsters with a good reward at the end.

Cave of the Moon Clan

Located in the Highlands Crossing it contains many Khazra and Cultists who will try to impede your way through this dungeon.

Act II

Upon your first entering of this Act, you will hit a cutscene with what you know, some new information about the upcoming act and details in regards to what you must first do. When you first enter you will need to follow the pathway into the actual town and talk to Leah who is on the wooden lookout over the city below. She is marked on your minimap on where you need to go to speak to her.

Shadows in the Desert

After speaking with her, you will obtain the Shadows in the Desert quest. You will need to head into the city by means of the east passageway from the Hidden Camp.

Once you've arrived in Caldeum you have an updated objective to talk to Asheara. Speak to her to learn about the ongoing issues in this region with the cultists and demons. You also learn that the people in this area are mainly refugees from the attacks and you need to head through the Sundered Canyon to find where Maghda is located.

Head through the town through the eastern gate, the only gate out of this town, and follow the pathway down where you will find the Enchantress. Speak to her and she will end up following you through the canyon toward a blocked passageway. You will discover that this is actually an illusion created by the cultists and she will dispel it after fighting off an ambush.

After she dispels the barrier, heading outside the new pathway will have you run into refugees guarded by the Iron Wolves being attacked by demons summoned by the cultists. You are tasked with saving them, being the hero you are. After killing them you need to speak to Iron Wolf Jarulf. He tells you that the cultists are casting their spells from two main places and leaves it up to you to find them and stop them.

Hug the wall to the north and follow it to the north east to eventually find the first set of footprints the Enchantress reveals. Following these will be your best bet and guide to getting to the locations quickly and with minimal effort. After you dispatch of the cultists in Hidden Conclave heading outside and going a bit south of that will show the footprints leading to the Secret Altar location. Follow those footprints to stop them there as well.

Once both locations have been cleared you will need to head toward the Black Canyon Bridge. Follow the arrow on your minimap to get there or the road. After arriving at the bridge, you will notice some magical flickering of the bridge showing that it's broken by an illusion only. But before you can cross you need to speak to the Enchantress to find out more of her story. After that she will dispel the illusion and allow you to cross over the bridge. So cross the bridge and you will need to find the Khasim Outpost since the road toward your goal is blocked by rubble.

The gateway that needs to be gone through in order to continue progress toward Khasim Outpost.

Head north north-east through the Black Canyon Mines to come to location where it squeezes you through a broken gateway into the Stinging Winds. Go through the passageway and head north east to eventually come to another squeeze that will take you to some stairs up toward a waypoint. Keep going north east until you finally find the entryway into Khasim Outpost.

Once inside the outpost, you will need to speak to Lieutenant Vachem who can be found further inside the outpost outside. Speak to him and he will tell you to head into the Command Post in order to get permission to continue your way through the gate. So enter the Command Post and you will find out Maghda set up a trap here for you to die. Slay the Copperfang Lurkers here and then open the locked cages for Captain Davyd. Follow him back outside to find out the guards outside were also posted there by Magdha. Slay them and Davyd will allow you through the east (note: it is the south gate by directions but game speaks of it as east) gate out of the outpost.

City of Blood

The gateway toward Alcarnus. There are two flagpoles on either side.

So head south until you either find the spot where you need to go south west into or follow that edge until you find it. It will look like a broken archway. You may run into many large openings in the ground along the path, these are not the edges of this area that is spoken of, go by them on either side and continue heading south. Hug the eastern edge of the Road to Alcarnus to come upon a bridge that is marked on your minimap, you will come upon a boss named Shatterbone. He hits pretty hard so avoid his swings if you can, and dispatch of him and the cultists that come with him.

Cross the bridge into the town and you will be told as a bonus to save 8 prisoners who are caged in this lower section of Alcarnus. You are also tasked with finding the Lair of the Witch in Alcarnus. Kill your way to the south side of town where you will find stairs leading toward the east into the upper section of the city. Follow the brick pathway toward the north to eventually come to the gates to where this witch resides. A marker on your minimap will be given to you for guiding you to its location.

Once inside you will need to go to the center area of this to hit a cutscene where Maghda shows herself and you will need to kill her. Avoid her bug swarm attack while draining her health and you should be fine. There will be three cases where she shields herself and has demons spawn to fight you, you will be unable to attack Magdha while she has her shield up but will have it down after the demons are killed. Repeat as necessary to kill her and be done with her for good. Return to the Hidden Camp, town portal being fastest, where a cutscene will happen. Once back in camp, speak to Tyrael to continue the questline.

A Royal Audience

You will need to head down into Caldeum Bazaar and speak to Asheara at the Gates of Caldeum to get an audience with the emperor of the city, upon doing so you will be attacked by more Copperfang Lurkers, killing them will let you escape the area where you will fight some more of the snakes to get to the sewers.

Act III

The Siege of Baston's Keep

When you arrive to the watchtower talk to Tyreal to start your first quest. Go through the armory and to the Baston's Keep Stronghold. Go to the Skycrown Battlements to signal 5 beacons. After completing, you will talk to a captain and a new quest will be given, you will help to raise 3 catapults.

Towns

New Tristram

New Tristram contains the focal point of the young hero to be. With only one weapons and armor merchant available and the bartender inside the Slaughtered Calf Inn selling potions, you are very limited on what you may do to start with but as the game progresses you will gradually gain access to the following:

Act III

Act IV

Tips & Tricks

Experience

You can gain bonus experience by breaking multiple objects at once. You can break an object with your left mouse button attack by holding shift down.

You can also gain bonus experience by killing multiple enemies with a single attack, or by killing multiple enemies as a whole without wasting too much time between deaths.

A more unique way to kill enemies and gain bonus experience is to use the environment to kill them such as the chandeliers or crumbling walls.

Replaying quest lines is a great way to get experience and gold from them; it will be even quicker than killing monsters. Be warned; multiplayer play allows a certain level range for each quest, so if you want to run through a quest again, you may have to do it by yourself.

Gold

You can find tons of gold by killing and selling off magic and rare items. The base normal items do not sell for much and typically will not be worth your effort unless it is to sell to make gold as much as possible. The selling of normal items is a bit easier once you acquire your ability to teleport.

It is recommended to explore an entire dungeon for all monsters and breakable objects to ensure maximum gaining potential, just don't waste a lot of time or it may not be worth it!

Replaying quest lines is a great way to get experience and gold from them, it will be even quicker than killing monsters but be warned, public multiplayer play allows a certain level range for each quest, so if you want to run through a quest again in a public game you may have to do it by yourself. However, there are no level restrictions for private multiplayer games, except a character cannot play on a difficulty it has not unlocked.

As of the latest patch, the repeatable quest rewards, such as XP and Gold reward, have been greatly reduced, upon an already finished quest, first timer. E.g., Act IV Quest I, difficulty Hell: Gained 60000xp, and after patch quest only yields 22500xp upon repeat.

Skills

If you are looking for defense or any other but you can't choose because you think some of them or good well read the following on how to solve this problem: press esc on your keyboard, options, gameplay then elective mode, check your skills, press defense. You will notice some arrows and when you press it you will notice that you are already on other categories but on the same skill slot, using elective mode you can select two to four skills that has the same category.

Another way to explain this:

As you gain levels you will unlock all 6 action slots (Primary, Secondary, and 1 through 4). Each ability category will unlock 4 or more abilities as you level. By default the game assigns each category to an action slot.

It may seem you can only have one ability from each category available for use. “Elective Mode” changes that. Under Options –> Gameplay –> Interface column, the last checkbox is “Elective Mode”. With this option enabled you can assign any ability to any action slot. You can have several abilities from the same category available at the same time.

Example:

You may not use any of the abilities currently available in your Secondary ability category. Why waste the Secondary action slot with something you don’t use? Assign that action slot with an unassigned ability from your Primary or Defensive category.

NOTE: When you gain a level and access the Skills screen it will flash “New” for the categories that have a new option. It is possible that one of the categories doesn’t have any abilities currently assigned an action slot. The unassigned category will not be on the screen so it will not have the “New” tag flashing next to it. You’ll need to click a slot to go into the screen that allows you to make changes. From there you can switch categories at the top to the one that was not show on the previous screen. The “New” tag will show up here. If the new ability isn’t something you’ll use just click the “Cancel” button. Nothing will have changed.